Lavawitch - I too am a disenchanted Laurell K. Hamilton fan. At least her Anita Blake books post OB (I think that was the last one that wasn't too porny for me too) I do like her other series too though. Have you read Kim Harrison? I like her books too though I'm several volumes behind and plan to start over.

_________________If a milkshake is going to change the world then it should be at least be an Oreo one. - daisychain

Bring Up the Bodies is waiting for me at the library! Perfect timing, too, because I did just finish Nothing to Envy (due back today).

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

I finished 'Embassytown' yesterday - came away with the impression that Miéville is a genius but I wish he'd put a bit more effort into characterisation. His ideas alone are enough to make his books something special, but with characters I cared about they could be so so amazing.

Now about a third of the way through the new JK Rowling. I'm not much of a crime reader, but I'm enjoying it - more than The Casual Vacancy. I'm also working my way slowly (very slowly) through Stephen Pinker's 'The Stuff of Thought', which is interesting but very dense. Luckily, being non-fiction, I can read a chapter a week without losing track of any plot.

_________________Jack Sprat could eat no fat and his wife could eat no lean, and then their daughter became a vegan and got a boyfriend with an onion allergy. --- My dad.

I thought it was absolutely brilliant. Incredibly sad, but incredibly well written.

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

Nothing to Envy does sort of have a happy ending that keeps it from being too unbearably depressing. It's nice that some are living happy lives in the south now.

The one that got me the most was the doctor, especially when she realized that the dogs in China were so well fed. And how they cut power to the hospitals in order to illuminate the statues 24 hours a day.

Just started Neil Gaiman's "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" today. I am only 2 chapters in and I am finding it really sad in a lovely, nostalgic way. I can't think of a better way to describe it yet.

It's like a contemporary It Can't Happen Here, Sinclair Lewis's cautionary tale of the rise of a theocratic regime in the US.

Starts with: What if McCain/Palin had won in '08?, and goes from there.

That sounds terrifying! I'm adding it to the list.

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

Has anyone read My Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan? It's pretty new, I think it came out this summer. I'm almost done with it and I'm like..really let down by it. I love love love Jim Gaffigan's stand ups and I got it because I like family comedy - like Bill Cosby, you know jokes about how weird kids are that kinda stuff.

This is more like...you know what sucks taking five kids to a new york city park and you know what else sucks when people comment on having five kids. And there are funny jokes, but not really stories just kinda "little kids are super loud in the morning, it's crazy people don't understand us all kids love pizza and candy and when I was single I never had these problems of having to wake up at 7 am my wife is super super super important and makes everything run and I wouldn't change it for the world but aren't three year olds like terrorists?"

And I would say maybe it's only meant to be funny for parents, but I'm sure if I let my mom read this she would dislike it more than me. Maybe only parents of five really young kids living in New York.

I just finished Neil Gaiman's new one (The Ocean at the End of the Lane) and really enjoyed it. I found the end to be almost unbearably sad and I'm not entirely sure why. I'll have to go back and re-read it in a couple of months (when it's not so fresh in my mind) and see if I can figure out why it affected me that way.

Now I'm back to the second Game of Thrones book. It's not zooming by as fast as the first one did, unfortunately.

I don't think this is necessarily a spoiler, it kind of just echoes the above but I thought better safe than sorry!

I have, literally, just finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane and I remembered this comment. I felt the same way. There was a sort of sweet melancholy to the whole book and a sense of loss and I want to say fear, but it isn't quite the right word. The epilogue really got to me, too. I was trying so hard not to cry but I couldn't help it and I could not tell you what it was that was making me feel whatever I was feeling. I wanted to just start over and read it all over again, which rarely happens, but I am going to wait a book or two and then go back to it.

The Golem and the Jinni. I'm having a really hard time reading books because I'm mixed manic/depressed which makes me very scattered. Hope I can finish this - my last book was a library ebook and it expired before I was done.

_________________If a milkshake is going to change the world then it should be at least be an Oreo one. - daisychain

Starting The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt. So far its not bad but after the adrenaline's rush that was Lilith's Brood its really hard to get into something slow paced.

It took me ages to get into that, if only because it took so long to get all the different characters and relationships straight in my mind! I thought the book was alright, but not amazing. I really think it suffered from having such a large cast of characters.

I've just been to the library and have 6 new books ready to start. Can't decide which one to read first... possibly 'Where'd You Go, Bernardette' by Maria Semple.

I just read Witness by Sandra Brown. Definitely one of her weaker books, especially the motivation for the main character changing her name (illegally). She has her moments, but she isn't an automatic read for me because she is not consistently good. Hopefully her legions of rabid fans won't hunt me down and throw flames at me for that. This was one of those "small town full of evil people all in on some Big Evil Plot" books. Only this small town full of evil people for some reason decided to bring in an outside prosecutor and then one of them marry her. Yeah, ok. Makes PERFECT sense. It kind of reminded me of The Cove by Catherine Coulter, only I really can't stand Coulter.

Now I'm reading Killjoy by Julie Garwood. I usually like Garwood, but never remember to look for her books. I just found this one a while back as a .99 deal on Kindle. It is apparently part of a linked series, but I'll continue on anyway. It seems good, if completely implausible. I don't mind implausible if I'm still turning the pages.

_________________"This is the creepiest post ever if you don't know who Molly is." -Fee"a vegan death match sounds like something where we all end up hugging." -LisaPunk